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Friday, 17 August 2012

Chumkie's Cathedral Windows QAL#1

Its exciting to be tagging along with Chumkie on her Cathedral Windows journey. After the lovely intoduction, here's the first installment of her QAL..

An Orange Peel Quilt

5 out of 16 CW blocks completed!

This first technique makes an Orange Peel Quilt which is a variation of the Cathedral Windows pattern. This pattern is also called Rob Peter to Pay Paul.

I'm fascinated by Cathedral windows quilts! Here's the easiest variation, but it sadly lacks the dimension of the traditional Cathedral Windows quilt. I've decided to make a cushion cover, approximately 14 inches square, for each of the techniques by this series of QALs.

Templates are available for Orange Peel quilts, but we’re going to make our own by recycling a CD that would otherwise be discarded.

You will need a piece of paper, a CD and a pencil

We need to make a template of a circle and a square. The CD, which measures 4-3/4”, makes the perfect circle template.

Now make a template for a square that fits within this circle.

Draw a circle around the CD on a

piece of paper and cut it out

Fold the circle in half, open it and fold again in half. Mark each crease with a dot.

Mark each of the 4 creases with a dot

Draw a line from dot to dot and measure one side of this square. Mine measured 3.5 inches. This will be the finished size of each of the 16 blocks that will be joined to make the Orange Peel cushion cover. The square template for the pane of the Cathedral Window should be cut 1/4” smaller all around, at 3-1/4”.

Draw a line from dot to dot to make a square

Transfer the dimensions of the 3-1/4” square to cardboard, cut it out and set it aside.

Make a cardboard template of the square

Pick a color of fabric for the window pane and place it face to face with the background fabric. I’ve chosen white for the background and frame, and green for the pane of the Cathedral Window.

Pin at each corner

Draw a circle on the background fabric. I was able to draw three circles (using the CD) on the 18” side of a fat quarter. Cut between the circles to make 3 units.

The squares of fabric are

approximately 6” square

Using a needle and thread that matches the background fabric, hand sew around the circle with a running stitch. Keep your stitches close together to get a good round shape when it is turned inside out.

Sew on the drawn line of the circle

Place the square template on the coloured/printed fabric within the circle and cut a slit just above the top of the template and under the edge of the circle, without touching the sewn line.

Draw a line and cut a slit between

template and sewn line

Leaving a ¼” seam, cut around the circle. Snip at ¼” intervals to aid in turning the circle inside out.

Turn the circle inside out through the slit.

Press the seam.

Place the square template within the circle and press the frame over the template.

Doing this one block at a time

makes it a great take-along project.

Pin the frame in place and sew down by hand or machine to form a Cathedral Windows block.

One completed Cathedral Windows block.

Make 16 blocks of varying colours and arrange them (4 across x 4 down) to preview the top of the cushion cover. To join the blocks, place two of them right sides together, and whipstitch on the back of the blocks. Whipstitch all 16 blocks together to make the top of the cushion cover.

Pieced top of cushion cover

An alternative method to assemble the Cathedral Window blocks would be to join adjacent blocks and then applique the flaps down. To do this, first mark the lines along which the blocks will be joined. (These pictures are from another project.)

Draw lines for sewing

Align two blocks, wrong sides together, and sew along the drawn line. Do this in pairs or rows.